Chinese GP review

Chinese Grand Prix Review
By Simon Baggus

A perfect start for Hamilton in the Chinese GP

So after Hamilton topped Practice, slammed the silver arrow on pole and romped to victory in the race all seems a full gone conclusion for the rest of the season doesn't it?

All seems so simple yet so complex, as when you look at the figures and detail in which Hamilton is perfecting his race craft to adapt the best from the new rule changes, he is just blowing every single competitor out of the water, including his team mate Nico Rosberg. Yet he is making it look easy.

Hamilton had a clean start and the race was effectively won from their. By lap 10 he had a 10 second cushion and by the time he made his pit stop, on lap 16, he was 30+ seconds ahead of Alonso in second as others around him had made their pitstops. Hamilton went longer than any of the front runners on his first set of tyres, to keep a comfortable lead after his first stop.

Lap 21 and Hamilton was 6 seconds ahead, lap 31 and he was 13 seconds ahead. Hamilton took his final pitstop on lap 39 and come out with a 12 seconds advantage to cruise to the finish, which fell a lap early, to his surprise. Hamilton had a winning margin of 17 seconds come the flag, but he also had the best fuel usage and best tyre management of all the front runners to take three wins in a row. A first for the Brit.

Hamilton has re written the record books also and is now the outright and most successful British driver  to take pole positions. His 34th in total. Amazingly he is still second in the championship, only by four points now to team mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton, the all time leading Brit for pole positions

Rosbergs weekend was blighted by problems. Straight from the start he had telemetry issues which meant he had to be extra cautious in the race with fuel and it also hampered his start. He dropped to 7th in the opening laps, had contact with a Williams and had to fight all the way to the flag, showing no matter how dominant you are, when your stuck behind traffic, it becomes harder. He still grabbed second with about 15 laps to go. Rosberg took his third straight second place, only finishing behind Hamilton.

Rosberg made use of ERS and some good race craft to get past the Williams and Red bulls and was up to third by lap 22, chasing down the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

Fernando pitted from second on lap 32 and thus promoted Rosberg up to second for a brief moment, still some 19 seconds behind Hamilton at this stage of the race.

Lap 41 after the pitstops have taken place and Rosberg makes a move stick on Alonso after slowly but surely closing the gap on him lap by lap and the german was clearly annoyed after being hampered by problems, which would have surely slowed his progress. He had enough and told his team over the radio he is no longer listening to fuel usage.

Alonso once again had an incredible race, taking the Ferrari beyond its true potential and landing third at race end, dedicating the podium finish to long serving friend and mentor, Stefano Domenicali.

Alonso made a great start moving into third place after bouncing off the side of Massas chassis, almost snatching second from Vettel and hounding him around until about lap 7, when things started to settle.

Vettel pitted and then Alonso, who was up to second for the remainder of the race, ends up ahead of him and only 3.7 behind Hamilton. It was pretty uneventful for Alonso from then on, although Rosberg was slowly closing on him lap by lap. Lap 33 and Alonso makes his second stop from 2nd and when all other stops play out, Rosberg is on his tale and Alonso loses 2nd on lap 41.

Alonso had a controlled race then to fend of Ricciardo to the flag, although it did go down to the wire.

Team orders played a role in the Chinese GP

Ricciardo put his car on the front row for the Chinese GP and had the better of his team mate, Vettel, once again in the race. Team orders played a role once again as Vettel was ordered to move over for Ricciardo, but in a turn of Bitterness, Vettel declined these team orders saying 'tough luck' to the response on why they asked him to move.

Vettel initially had the better start of the two and Ricciardo was down in fourth in the opening laps but had a brilliant drive to get past his team mate.  After Rosberg passed Vettel on lap 22, Ricciardo tried on lap 23 only to be rebuffed by Vettel. The team oder on lap 25 and the pass on lap 27 as Vettel ran wide into turn one, gifted Ricciardo Fourth who finished almost 20 seconds ahead of Vettel on the road come the flag.

What is evident in this intra team battle is that Ricciardo has adapted better to the new rules and Vettel has conceded he is struggling and is being beaten 'fair and square' by Ricciardo. Which to me, only highlights his credentials and talent and brings into question how great of a champion he really is.

By the way i am no Vettel hater, this is just my opinion. Ricciardo is not even a race winner yet but is taking Vettel to the cleaners in every race he has finished. Simple facts. The fact Vettel cannot extract the potential from his Red Bull where he is the reigning and 4 time world champion is saying something and the fact Alonso is in a slower car than Vettel yet is beating him and beating Raikkonen like he is, shows what true race craft is about.

Your 2014 podium

A pretty boring race then for the rest of the field with little action and little to talk about. Apart from mandatory pit stops and how poor McLaren were again.

The rest of the top ten finished like this;

6, Hulkenberg 7, Bottas 8, Raikkonen 9, Perez 10, Kvyat.

Hulkenberg once again goes about his business and notches another 6th place finish, leaving him fourth in the championship standings. He always manages to extract more than Perez and he is being rewarded for this through the championship. Ahead of both Red Bulls is a statement.

Bottas, after his first lap incident, kept Hulkenberg honest through out the race and shadowed his every move. Little separated them come race end and again Bottas is showing their is a new Finn in town. Finishing one place ahead of Raikkonen

Raikkonen again had a poor race by his standards and just cannot get a grip of his Ferrari. The fact he isn't even in the top ten positions in the drivers championship standings is telling its own story and to finish 8th, almost a whole minute down the road, behind his team mate in third, is not good news for him. The strongest, dream pairing, is showing to be all but a dream.

Perez again gets into the points to help with the constructors championship with Force India, who are in third place. His race was average compared to his third place in Bahrain, finishing 30 seconds behind his team mate. Perez has shown this through out his career, the fact he is like a one hit wonder, then fades into the back ground for the rest of the season.

Kvyat done a brilliant job again to finish in the top ten after starting 13th on the grid and is showing he is up for the job after critics thought he was not ready, you can sense a steely determination about Kvyat and i think he will be a name for the future.

Outside the top ten then was Button in 11th and Magnussen in 13th, split by the Torro Rosso of Vergne. In a race that McLaren want to forget, Button and Magnussen cast, down beat figures, clearly showing their frustration, that they are going backwards rather than forwards. A second consecutive non points finish for the pair is not good enough and they will both be relieved there is a three week break, to sort the mess that has befell them.

Maldonado had an uneventful drive to 14th place, going through the motions in a poor car, with a poor driver.

Massa who had problems early on fell to the back of the pack after his one minute pitstop and faced an up hill struggle to achieve anything, showing once again, like with Rosberg, this year, progress is hard to come by. From 21st he did battle back to 15th come race end but for a top ten, maybe a top five team, 15th is really poor.

Gutierrez finished 16th on the road in a car that is still only marginally better than the Caterham and Marussia teams.

Talking of the teams at the back of the field, Kobayashi finished best of the rest in 17th, catching Bianchi with a hand full of laps left, Bianchi finishing in 18th, Chilton finishing in 19th on his 23rd birthday, taking him to a total of 23 races finished in a row, still going with his 100% record and the last finisher being a very poor Erricson. Is he really cut out for Formula One?

Two non finishers in Grosjean, who had a gear box problem, and Sutil who had power unit issues.

A race that wont go down in history as a classic, but a race that has set things up nicely when we return in 3 weeks time. Intra team battles at an all time high, Drivers and teams alike under performing. Team principals stepping down and one man on top, Lewis Hamilton.

Three in a row for this man

It is safe to say i am LOVING this years championship.

See you in three weeks time for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit De Catalunya.

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Simon Baggus

P.s, Apologies for being a few days late, i had an extra long Easter break!

Take it easy guys!

China-Shanghai GP preview

China GP preview
By Simon Baggus

The first corner at Shanghai, amazing for spectators 

Like the Bahrain GP, the Chinese GP became a new addition to the Formula One calendar in 2004.

The event took place at a brand new circuit, where expense wasnt' the limit and this announced China as a main player on the Formula One stage.

As at Bahrain, the Shanghai International Circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, who has one more track up its sleeve, in the form of Istanbul Park in Turkey. Unlike Malaysia and Bahrain, this track boats amazing spectator facilities and holds just under double the amount of both Circuits put together with an astonishing 200,000.

The circuit itself has 14 corners divided equally, into right and left hand turns with two major straights, providing plenty of overtaking opportunities. This circuit also boasts harsh acceleration and deceleration changes that are demanding for both the cars and drivers. This should play into the hands of Mercedes powered cars.

The first winner here was Rubens Barrichello, with a young Jenson Button finishing second in his BAR.

Another recent highlight here will be that of Lewis Hamilton, in 2007, his debut year, going into the gravel trap at the entrants to the pits, thus handing victory to Kimi Raikkonen who also went onto winning the title by 1 point that season.

Built at a cost of 240 million US dollars, at the time the most expensive circuit built, Shanghai International is certainly a spectacular venue.

Hamilton was your pole sitter, whilst Alonso was your winner in 2013

Your last three winners here have been, Fernando Alonso (2013, 2005), Nico Rosberg (2012) and Lewis Hamilton (2011, 2008). Alonso and Hamilton being the only double winners since the track was introduced to the Formula One world in 2004.

Hamilton must be revelling in the fact his Mercedes W05 has benefited the most from the rule changes and he is on top of the F1 world riding that ever so bumpy roller coaster. Hamilton being the pole sitter last time F1 visited China, will be looking to repeat history and why not? His form is blistering at the moment, taking back to back wins in Bahrain and Malaysia and being the pole sitter in Australia and Malaysia also.

Breathing down his neck like a fire breathing dragon, Nico Rosberg is hot on his heels. Winner of the season opener in Australia, after Hamilton retired and taking pole last time out in Bahrain, he must fancy his chances in China as well. This intra team battle is very intense, will it turn sour, will they fall out, will the 'real champion' emerge compared to the 'race winner'.

You have to think Hamilton always has the edge on Rosberg. Rosberg seemingly too soft handed, not aggressive enough, not showing as much hunger.

Hamilton seems to have the edge over Rosberg

Best of the rest is still Red Bull. Had Vettel and Ricciardo not started 11th and 13th in Bahrain, they would have been on that podium, as there race pace proved this.

With no penalties to either name and a break to improve reliability, aerodynamics, race pace etc you have to think, Red Bull has the resources to benefit the most from this.

I fully expect either Red Bull to be on that podium come race day and on that second row come qualifying.

Bahrain has shown the true speeds of each team and with China being another high speed circuit, Force India must be in prime position to benefit again as they have seemed to grasp the new Mercedes power unit the best.

Perez had a performance that silenced the critics for one more weekend, just as he was beginning to fall behind team mate Hulkenberg. His third place was great for him, for his team and to kick start his campaign. Force India, incredibly, are second in the constructors championship and Perez will be running off great momentum that should bring him another good run in China. Hulkenberg was again consistent in Bahrain, comfortably in the points, albeit struggling at the end of the race. Expect the same from him in Shanghai. In typical Hulk style no less.

Perez will be looking too continue his good form into China

Williams will be gutted they did not extract the most from their weekend. This could just be down to lack of good strategy, not fighting at the front for podiums for some time, showing their race rust. All will come to them as the season goes on. They will undoubtedly be on that podium more than once this season in the form of two great drivers.

Bottas who is the young pretender, has been great this year, scoring more points than Williams would have imagined at the beginning of the year, after their dire performance the season before. He will be looking at bringing home the points again.

Then there is Massa who seems much happier than his final years as a Ferrari driver, this has shown in his performances so far, as no such mistakes that hampered him in previous years have appeared this season, just consistent point scoring GP's so far. Apart from his retirement in Australia, which was not his fault. China should suit the Williams outfit and more points seem inevitable.

McLaren started this season with promise with a double podium in Australia, after Ricciardo's disqualification, but have fallen back since then, resulting in two retirements last time out in Bahrain.

They will be hoping their luck changes. China is a track that should suit them and with Button winning the 2010 event here, recent history and knowledge could help. Hamilton had his last win here courtesy of McLaren also, so they do know how to approach this track.

Ferrari may be looking at the final point scoring positions again, as the long straight in China could hurt their performance, with an underpowered Ferrari unit. Alonso was the winner last time here, but reminiscing is all he will be doing, as Alonso will know himself he has no chance. If Alonso knows he has no chance, Raikkonen will be in the same boat, as he is struggling even more than Alonso with the Ferrari car this year.

Torro Rosso seem to be hovering around the final points scoring positions with Vergne and Kvyat taking points in the opening couple of GP's and just missing out in Bahrain with Kvyat 11th. They will be looking to get both cars into Q2 and maybe snatch some points.

Lotus made a little progress, by getting both cars home in Bahrain. They still lack overall pace though and it is bold claims they match McLaren for pace and have the speed to score some points. Hard to see from my point of view. Maldonado will be near the back of the grid in China due to his incident in Bahrain, so all hopes look to be on Grosjean for some points. Maybe they will have made some progress from in season testing.

Guiterrez will have a new chassis after this crash in Bahrain

Sauber are another team not performing to expectations, With the speed of Gutierrez and the wisdom of Sutil they should be in the points more often. They both seem to be riding the storm, until significant upgrades emerge in the near future as their package is very heavy and pretty slow. Sutil has been the slower so far out of the team pairing but this is down to his weight disadvantage i feel.

Caterham and Marussia are very evenly matched, bringing up the rear of the field and it will be interesting to see who will take the 10th place position in the constructors. It is swapping at every race we have visited but maybe Max Chilton will be the man to do it for Marussia who has been the most consistent out of the four back runners.

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Thank you,
Simon Baggus

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Bahrain Beauty! - Review

Bahrain Beauty
By Simon Baggus

From start to finish the Bahrain GP was a thrill to watch

So all free practices had been led by the Silver Arrows and Lewis Hamilton, no change their from Malaysia then.

Qualifying was much of the same with a Mercedes leading Q1, Q2 and Q3. Rosberg landed pole with Hamilton just behind him on the front row, giving Mercedes their first front row start since rejoining the sport. Ricciardo was blistering again qualifying third but a penalty from last time out meant he started P13 with Vettel in P11 missing out on Q3 by one place, complaining about his downshifts not working properly. One other surprise was the absence of Hulkenberg from Q3. The norm had been eliminated in Q1, consisting of the Caterham and Marussia teams, along with Sutil and Maldonado.

The rest of the top ten qualified like this;

4, Bottas, 5, Perez 6, Raikkonen, 7, Button, 8, Massa, 9, Magnussen and 10, Alonso.

This was going to shape the race very nicely indeed. Not a Red Bull in the top ten and a track that suited the Mercedes engine, what was Sunday going to bring. Well lets find out.

The Race

As one set of lights illuminated the Bahrain circuit, another set of lights went out.

Hamilton put the hammer down, immediately pulling level with Rosberg and more importantly taking the lead around the first corner. Some heavy defending and amazing skills kept Rosberg at bay around the first lap, which set the scene for an enthralling team battle. From then on, action packed it was, for the entire race.

Massa getting a superb start, Magnussen getting tangled with Raikkonen again, Vergne getting a puncture and the Hulk turning the heat on Alonso once more, opened an incident packed couple of laps.

Perez gets passed Massa early on

After a number of overtakes by various drivers, Sergio Perez, who has been poor since the season opener, had a turn of fortune, passing Massa for third, which would shape his race until the chequered flag.

What Bahrain were witnessing was something special. Where did all this overtaking come from? are we not at a different circuit? what was going on?. Spectacular scenes. O and Mercedes and Mercedes powered teams opening a can of woop-ass around this track.

Bianchi and Sutil clash on lap 14, twice. Both carry on.

Then.....

Lap 15. Lets reminisce again. Ahhh, team orders to let Ricciardo through on Vettel, extraordinary. This made me smile, Ricciardo has been my driver of the season so far and has given Vettel a sound hiding from the opening GP, be it not for retirements and disqualifications, would be ahead of Vettel in the championship.

Lap 18 onwards and the arrows at it again. The pair not giving an inch and with no team orders in sight, must of had every single individual on the edge of their seat, watching this battle go on for the next two laps. Rosberg certainly wasn't happy, Hamilton was. Exciting stuff.

Hamilton pits. Rosberg leads the Bahrain GP, only for two laps though, as he pop in the pits, puts fresh boots on and powers back out, this time 8 seconds behind Hamilton. After their pits, the lead pair over 30 seconds ahead of the field.

Vergne and Sutil hang up their boots for the weekend and are out of the Bahrain GP, just as Massa puts Bottas under pressure. WOW, team orders? Massa complaining, Force india hot on their heels. No such thing develops as Bottas dives in the pits.

Mercedes powered trio made for exciting racing

The Hulk slip streams Massa, Massa defends, Hulk under attack from Perez, Perez does it. Exciting stuff again from the trio out on track.

The next couple of laps see places third down to tenth battle it out for position on track, with some brilliant racing, from teams including Force India, McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams. The pack could not get any tighter. Who was going to maximise their chance the most??

Erricson in his Caterham pull up as the final pitstops take place.

In with a shout at the final podium position at this point of the race was Hulkenberg, Perez, Button, Massa and Bottas but what happened next was incredible, yet scary.

Maldonado was stupid, Gutierrez was lucky

Maldonado T-bones Gutierrez coming out of the pits. Gutierrez gets spun upside down, yes UPSIDE DOWN, bounces on the air box and lands on all for wheels. shaken up is an understatement. Some say It was a racing incident, i see it as stupidity from Maldonado, not paying respect to any of his fellow peers. Maldonado has had a 5 place grid penalty next time out in China and 3 points on his super licence for his actions today. Not enough of a punishment i say and doesn't make sense, when Ricciardo gets a ten place penalty for an unsafe release in the pits.

Safety car then for only the second time in 10 years at the circuit in Bahrain. The field bunch up, pit stops are made, Rosberg on options, Hamilton on primes. My word, what Hamilton does for the rest of the race is incredible.

During the safety car period Kevin Magnussen pulls up and out of the Bahrain GP.

10 laps left, the safety car comes in and away they go. By the end of the race the Mercedes duo have 22 seconds on the rest of the field. How can this be possible?. Not even Red bull had been this dominant in their four year reign.

In a race of their own

Still wide eyed on the edge of our seats are we, i certainly was.

Still action to been seen as Perez holds third, Button falling back rapidly, Ricciardo gets past Vettel and Hulkenberg to run fourth on the road, with Vettel complaining again about power. The Williams duo right in the hunt also, with Massa challenging Vettel, unsuccessfully, with the Ferrari pair dropping back slightly on the rest of the top ten.

Button seems to be retiring from the race with only a few laps remaining, meaning a double retirement for the McLaren team, although he was classified 17th.....

With the chequered falling,

Lewis Hamilton crossing the line P1

LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX.

Fireworks exploding everywhere, records being equalled, as Hamilton took is 24th career victory, equalling Juan-Manuel Fangio and records beaten, by the fact this circuit has not seen this many overtakes in its 10 years of running. Alonso adding some comedy, giving a fist pump as he crosses the line in 9th and a spectacular race in Bahrain made for, in my eyes, one of the very best weekends in Formula One history.

Hamilton finished on the top step for the second time in a row and has won two races back to back that he had not won before, Rosberg was second on the road, by less than a second and is leading the Drivers Championship, now only by 11 points. Perez is third on the podium this weekend, taking his fourth in his career and second for Force India.

The rest of the field finished like this;

4, Ricciardo, 5, Hulkenberg, 6, Vettel, 7, Massa, 8, Bottas, 9 Alonso 10, Raikkonen, 11, Kvyat, 12, Grosjean, 13, Chilton, 14, Maldonado, 15, Kobayashi, 16, Bianchi and classified 17, Button.

Hamilton equals Fangio in 24 wins

So Lotus manage to get both cars home for the first time this season, although still no points. Marussia do the same, with Chilton having a good run to P13, again 100% record still intact. Kvyat just misses out on the points. Ferrari although in the points were terrible this weekend as this dry race shows the true potential of all teams speed, showing Ferrari power units are the worst in the field.

We have two weeks until we get to China and the Shanghai circuit, with in season testing happening right at this track in Bahrain in one weeks time. Now after this race you will be silly to miss the season, so all the haters have a re think and tune in for China.

Thank you for reading,
Simon Baggus

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Bahrain GP preview

Bahrain GP preview
By Simon Baggus

Hamilton won last week in Malaysia

The Bahrain Grand Prix is another spectacle built by Hermann Tilke and was the first GP to take place in the middle east.  Its home is the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir.

The venue boasts a capacity of 50, 000 spectators,  has 6 different race tracks, two if which can be used to host Formula one events with the striking eight story Sakhir tower, which incorporates a resaurant, several hospitality suites and offices for the International circuit management, providing views of the entire ciruit.

The first race held here was In 2004, under the ever so dominant Ferrari era, ending in a one - two finish with Schumacher heading Barrichello.

The track contains 12 corners and a massive, long straight, aiding the help of overtaking.  Some people do say this track does not live up to some of the other tracks that Tilke has built, such as Sepang in Malaysia, where Hamilton has just taken a dominant win.

This track has had its fair use of unrest over the years also, having to be cancelled in 2011 due to political circumstances. When the race returned in both 2012 and 2013, extra security had been needed as the capitol of Bahrain was still unsettled, with protesters threatening to boycott the event. A number of teams even got caught up in the cross fire and attacks, driving back to their hotels from the GP circuit.

It returns in 2014 with a new twist up its sleeve. A night race nonetheless.  The track now fitted with state of the art flood lighting to handle such needs. This is not the only night race on the calander so the drivers can take some comfort from the fact they have been there and done it, although it will be a new venture into the unkown, with different track temperatures, humidity and obviously at night.

With no break in between races you can expect to see the same offering as what was in Malaysia. Most teams will be running pretty much the same spec cars as last weekend, which means only one thing really, a Mercedes on pole?, a Mercedes for the win? most likely outcome.

Now we had 1 less retire in Malaysia compared to Australia but it does not tell the whole story about reliability, although it was still evident. I believe reliability had improved and i think going to Bahrain at night, will only help the cars power units, with heat, cooling and performance.

So what can we expect to see then this weekend.

Mercedes will lead the fighting pack in qualifying and the race. Hamilton especially seems to have atleast 0.500 of a second on the field per lap and even his own team mate Rosberg. How far along the road can they actually finish.

Red Bull are Mercedes' closest challengers and they are even 30 seconds behind come race end

Red bulls seem to be next, now the order has settled a little, with the reigning champions getting their act together. There problem is on race day where they lack race pace, as does everyone, but in qualifying they can be a thorn in the side of the Mercedes, over one qualifying lap. I think Mercedes will lock out the front row with Hamiltom leading the team battle, with Red Bull occupying the second row, Vettel leading that team battle.

Ricciardo also has a 10 place grid penalty due to his Unsafe pit release, which seems harsh as he served a penalty in Malaysia also. So even if he gets pole he will be P10 at the minimum, which will surely make his night that much harder. Renault lack straight line speed and if he is behind all those Mercedes powered cars it will be tough for him

All is still unkown for the rest of the field as the pack oder is still changing race by race, but it will most likely be McLaren, Ferrari and Williams fighting it out for the next places with Hulkenberg having a stab with his Force india to mix things up a bit. I think Alonso, Kimi, Button and Magnussen will fight out for rows 3 and 4, what order they line up I do not know.

What we do know is that Williams lack qualifying pace but have great race pace, this is there down fall as they put themselves on the back foot straight away, but don't rule either Bottas or Massa sneaking a podium, if team orders play a part again, it will be interesting to see it play out and I'm sure if Bottas is on the receiving end of an order he will ignore just as Massa had done.

Torro Rossi can also sneak into the top ten in qualifying and hold on to get a bunch of points if they have a fault free weekend. Kvyat has shown consistently that he can produce the results in the first two Grand prix of the year, so he would be a good bet to sneak a few points.

Perez has had a tough start to his campaign so will be hoping for a better showing this weekend as he has been thoroughly beaten by Hulkenberg since the season began. With no points on the board and retirements to his name he needs a good weekend.

Lotus had a better showing last weekend with Grosjean and have said they believe they can be fighting with McLaren for points this weekend. I think this is a bit ambitious as Grosjean only finished ahead of the Caterhams and Marussia in Malaysia. They still have reliability problems as Maldonado suffered his second retirement and they still have the least amount of track time. Still no points after Bahrain seems on the cards.

Sauber still lack pace in an overweight car, which they have said they are going to put through a weight loss programme. They both retired also last time out so it isn't looking hopeful they will score Any points again.

Both Caterham and Marussia will have there own private battle at the back of the field once again, but it does seem the Caterham is a faster package overall then Marussia. Max Chilton will be hoping to continue his 100% record into this race and make it 22 races without retirement.

Your last years podium, Renault powered teams are having no such luck this year

My prediction is Hamilton for the win, followed by his team mate Nico Rosberg. I am going to have a punt and say Bottas will be third on the podium this weekend, with a red bull and Alonso completing the top 5.

All will be revealed come race day, or night as it will be, in Bahrain.

I will bring a blog of the whole weekend this time around, instead of two separate blogs for qualifying and the race, so watch out for that one, early next week.

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Simon Baggus

Malaysian GP review - Hamilton does the triple

Malaysian GP review
By Simon Baggus

Mercedes get a blinding start

No such monsoons were insight as race day began, instead the F1 gods granted sun.

As the lights turned green the silver arrow of Lewis Hamilton had a storming start, getting the hole-shot into turn one, meanwhile Nico Rosberg had an even better start, that similar to Australia, pulling alongside Vettel, who tried to squeeze him out but had little success, thus conceding his second place around the first turn.

Vettel was then hounded by team mate Ricciardo and the Bulls in turn, tried charging down Rosberg round turns two, three and four, before they settled into position, with Hamilton already disappearing into the distance.

Lap one then and Maldonado was up to his usual, in having contact with another car, this being Bianchi, who was the cause of the incident. Bianchi was given a 5 second stop - go penalty for his actions.

Lap two had more contact this time, Kevin Magnussen giving Raikkonen a love tap, creating a puncture for the Ferrari man, which would shape the rest of his race.

The first retirement came on lap 7 and it was bad news for Lotus again and Maldonado, who was told to box, thus ending his race. Maldonado is still to complete a full race distance.

Magnussen was given a 5 second stop - go penalty on lap 11 for his contact with Raikkonen, a lap after he had to change his nose, from the same incident.

So far then only one retiree, a load of action packed entertainment and now the beginning of the pit stops for the whole field. This was turning out to be a great race so far.

Our second retiree was Jules Bianchi on lap 13, were we going to see as many retire as in Australia?

So after lap 20 we had seen both Mercedes cars already in cruise control, turning their engines down, saving fuel, conserving their tyres, which makes you think, have we really seen the true potential of a Mercedes yet, i highly doubt it, they are just incredible and we must give credit, where credit is due.

Vettel was chasing down Rosberg as the laps went by, but as we saw, Rosberg had it under control and when he put the hammer down, it was a case of Vettel who?!  as he pulled out a comfortable margin.

The Red Bulls were Mercedes' nearest challengers

So we had Hamilton leading the way by 10 seconds, with team mate Rosberg in second controlling everything Vettel had to offer, Ricciardo was having a fine drive again, running in fourth place after being passed by Vettel earlier on. Alonso again was running in 5th place in an under performing car. Hulkenberg was having a fine drive in 6th place, also leading the race at one point due to pit stops, running on a two stop strategy, with Button running 7th after starting 10th and the two Williams cars of Massa and Bottas progressing up the field as i had predicted with the warm dry weather helping their cars performance. Kvyat was running in the top ten again like in Australia, showing his maturity once again.

With rain on the horizon, it was twitchy bum time on the paddock wall, it did not materialise though and the race ran full distance without disruption.

The next lot of pitstops played out and all was unchanged at the front, it was Mercedes running first and second and commanding the entire race. Which was nice to see.

Sutil was our next casualty from the race to end his dismal weekend in the Sauber, followed by team mate Gutierrez a few laps later, who was actually having a decent run out.

A horrid ten laps then for Ricciardo, who came in for his mandatory pit stop, only to not have his front left wheel put on properly, causing him to stop in the pit lane and lose a whole lap. He later received a 10 second stop - go penalty for these actions. That was not all though before the penalty he ran over a curb which dislodged his front wing, causing a puncture and another trip back to the pits, on lap 53 the team called it a day and he pulled into retirement. What was looking like a solid finish after his disqualification in Australia, turned out to be another weekend to forget. Maybe Australians are not meant to be at Red Bull.

The last six laps of the race proved very interesting to say the least. More team orders for Massa, who completely ignored them, to everyones amusement. Bottas chasing down and getting frustrated and Button being the beneficiary of all this to hold onto P6 at the chequered flag.

Hamilton decided it was time. He let the arrow loose, pumped in a time 2 seconds faster than anyone else, then cruised again till the end of the race, very much Vettel like of last season.

No one could deny Lewis

Again at the rear of the field doing his own thing, was Max Chilton, bringing his car home for his 100% record, finishing. I wonder if he can go two season?.

So Hamilton stood on top of the podium, rocking his new fuzzy hair, getting the pole, the win and the fastest lap. Rosberg was second and Vettel was third. All dripping with sweat and Champaign.

The rest of the order was as follows;

Alonso in action to 4th on the road

4, Alonso 5, Hulkenberg 6, Button 7, Massa 8, Bottas 9, Magnussen 10, Kvyat 11, Grosjean 12, Raikkonen 13, Kobayashi 14, Ericsson 15, Chilton.

Perez did not even start the race so was a retiree before the race began.

Many teams got both cars home this weekend, which is a good sign of reliability. These included, Mercedes, McLaren, Williams, Caterham and Ferrari.

What was also very interesting to see, was the fuel consumption by a %, when you study this data you can see Red Bull have had to push much harder than every other team to finish where they did. Mercedes and especially Hamilton had one of the best fuel consumptions of the whole grid, which just shows he was not pushing at all. Same is said for Rosberg.

I think people are being deluded into thinking Red Bull are closer than they actually are, when in fact they are still miles behind the pace of the Mercedes, as is everyone else, when you take into consideration, Mercedes turned there engines down on lap 20 and had very good fuel consumption, showing they could push much harder if they wanted too, with there winning margin so massive.

So two dominant Mercedes wins into the season, they are leading the constructors and drivers standings. I do not think we will see any change at the top for the next race either, which is only one week away in Bahrain.

Thank you all for reading, what an enjoyable race it has been, i shall see you in a weeks time for the Bahrain GP on the 4-6 April.

Simon Baggus

Malaysian qualifying - Déjà Vu

Déjà Vu
By Simon Baggus

Hamilton takes pole in rain hit Malaysian GP qualifying

So monsoons hit the Malaysian GP surface, postponing the running of the start of qualifying.

One hour passed into the session before we got under way, with conditions still tricky and visibility no where to be seen.

The symphony of those v6 pistons grunted into life and 18 minutes were on the clock, we were go go go!

In Q1 as expected we had seen both the Caterham and Marussia teams bow out, not without incident though as there was a big off for Marcus Ericsson, which was totally driver error, getting on the grass, then hitting the barrier and spinning across the track to bring out the red flags, this was his first time driving the car in the wet.

Ericsson got it all wrong

Also out was Sutil surprisingly, who could not get to grips with his car and Maldonado, which was not a surprise, as his ever so good formula one credentials sprung into action, leading him to choose the wrong tyre, creating his own fate. It was a surprise to see Grosjean make it through to Q2 though.

There was also a brief moment where the world thought Sebastian Vettel was out of qualifying, they were to be disappointed as his engineers fixed his car. He had a stormer later on in the session.

Nico rosberg finished Q1 top of the pile and there was to be nothing but a Mercedes on top in every qualifying session today.

Q2 and 15 minutes began, with the rain still pounding the ever so hot and humid Malaysian surface with temperatures still above 35 degrees, teams tried running on intermediate tyres, they soon found out this was a rookie mistake. But not long into the session and another red flag was out.

This time there was contact between Kvyat  and Alonso, Kvyat who locked up, slid into the side of Alonsos car, breaking a wishbone. He got back to the pits with 12 minutes left on the clock and his mechanics worked hard to get him back out.

Hamilton ended the session on top from his team mate Nico Rosberg.

Out in this session was Grosjean, which was to be expected. What was unexpected was the two casualties in the form of the Williams team. As Massa had stated in Australia, they lacked rear down force. In the wet today this was evident. Im sure if the weather is clear they will both finish in the points, surely with that power from the Mercedes unit.

Massa will be hoping for a better weekend

Also out was Kvyat who was pipped to the post by his team mate Vergne, Gutierrez who dominated Sutil so far this weekend and Perez who is under achieving a hell of a lot compared to his team mate Hulkenberg.

Q3 and 12 minutes set the scene in what most people thought was going to be a Mercedes walk through. All was not.

Again teams went out on inters and after one lap found this was a mistake, Magnussun coming straight in to change for full wets, whilst Button was trying a bold move and coming in to change his full wets to inters, it did not pay off as he was slumped into P10 the whole session.

Vergne finished Q3 in P9 with Buttons team mate in P8. Hulkenberg again managed to extract much more from his car than Perez and for his efforts lines up P7 for tomorrows race, which he must be pleased about.

The top six was dominated by three different teams, three different engines and four world champions.

Ferrari ended the session with Raikkonen in P6 and Alonso in P4. Raikkonen having a better weekend than in Australia but still dominated by his formidable team mate, Alonso who lines up on the second row. We all know how good Alonso is off the start, so will be very interesting.

Red Bull have got their package together very quickly and they have been on the pace all weekend. Ricciardo had another good qualifying to end up p5, but never had the legs on his team mate Vettel, who had a storming (no pun intended) qualifying to be 0.055 away from the pole sitter and lines up P2 on the grid.

Mercedes once again took pole in the form of the one lap specialist Lewis Hamilton, who was faultless all weekend apart from a little off in the final part of Q3, although the job had already been done. Hamilton also equals the British record in taking 33 pole positions set by Jim Clarke. Nico Rosberg again lines up in P3 as in Australia, he must be happy to be up their again.

We have a bit of Deja vu on our hands here at the Malaysian GP qualifying, as it is Mercedes on top split by a Red bull to make tomorrows race very very interesting, with tyres, fuel strategies, turbo strategies, maybe even team orders? Multi 21 springs into mind.

Multi 21 controversy, ended in P1 and P2 here last year

The grid order lines up like this then,

1) Hamilton 2) Vettel 3) Rosberg 4) Alonso 5) Ricciardo 6) Raikkonen 7) Hulkenberg 8) Magnussen 9) Vergne 10) Button

11) Kvyat 12) Gutierrez 13) Massa 14) Perez 15) Bottas 16) Grosjean

17) Maldonado 18) Sutil 19) Bianchi 20) Kobayashi 21) Chilton 22) Ericsson

Stay tuned and make sure you are up for what is going to be a thrilling race tomorrow, live on my preferred channel, the BBC at 8.30 am GMT.

Also catch all the latest news at, Addicted to Formula One;

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AddictedToF1/

Thank you for reading
Simon Baggus